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Ricky Burns pushing his next fight date back to February or March

By Scott Gilfoid: WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns (35-2, 10 KO’s) won’t be fighting on January 26th after all. He’s decided to fight in either late February or early March, according to BBC Sport. Burns’s manager Alex Morrison says that Burns wants to get a little rest before he starts fighting again. Burns hasn’t fought since beating British fighter Kevin Mitchell by an easy 4th round knockout last September in a one-sided fight.

Burns had the chance to fight WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner, but turned it down. Broner has a fight coming up next month on February 16th against Gavin Rees, but after he knocks him out, Broner says he’s still interested in trying to get a fight with Burns.

Personally, I think Broner should listen to the advice from a lot of boxing fans who are telling him that he should move up in weight to the light welterweight or better yet the welterweight division so that he can start facing fighters that are well known.

It’s not even worth trying to line up a fight against Burns because Broner has failed twice in doing so, and I expect him to continue to fail. Let Burns fight guys like Kevin Mitchell, John Murray or Liam Walsh, while Broner moves up and goes after Manny Pacquiao.

As for Burns, Morrison is hoping to place his next fight in Glasgow, Scotland. It’s probably going to be just a simple title defense. I mean, Burns was supposed to fight fringe contender Liam Walsh in December, but Walsh was injured in a car accident and he had to pull out of the fight. Burns was then going to fight 2nd tier opponent Jose Ocampo but he too pulled out of the fight. Burns was then tentatively scheduled for January 26th. During this time, Broner’s promoters at Golden Boy attempted to line up a fight between Broner and Burns but with no luck.

I’d be surprised if Burns fights anyone other than a bottom fringe contender. I guess Walsh will be healed up by February or March, so that could be the reason why the delay. I have a feeling it will be a UK fighter that faces Burns and Walsh is one of the few guys left at that weight who are ranked in the top 15.